A Cornwall councillor who has received a censure for failing to apologise and undergo “training” after speaking out about the way the local authority dealt with a self-styled Gypsy says her punishment sets a dangerous precedent, writes Local Democracy Reporter Lee Trewhela.

Cllr Dulcie Tudor received the political slap on the wrist for being found to be “in breach of the Code of Conduct for Cornwall Council”.

The councillor for Threemilestone and Chacewater, who is not aligned to any political group, was the subject of a complaint brought by Alison Bulman, the local authority’s strategic director for care and wellbeing. Ms Bulman made the complaint on November 7 last year, alleging a “breach of confidentiality in relation to a vulnerable service user”.

It came after Cllr Tudor criticised the council for possibly moving self-styled Gypsy Neil Wainwright on to land at the authority’s flagship Langarth garden village, which is being built in her division. Instead, Mr Wainwright’s double decker bus was moved to the council’s own County Hall / Lys Kernow headquarters in Truro, where it is still parked.

He had previously been living in the bus outside a council house he never occupied in Falmouth. Parked up for four years, Mr Wainwright was seen as a nuisance and safety risk by many residents in the area.

Cllr Tudor was grilled by the council’s standards committee last week, which agreed to uphold the complaint and issued a censure, which is basically a political warning. She now believes it could put off other councillors from speaking out about issues which affect people in their divisions and how taxpayers’ money is spent.

Her full statement reads: “With respect to members of the standards committee I won’t be losing any sleep over their decision to censure me because I am satisfied I have acted in the best interests of the people in my division. I could never for instance have agreed to any terms for an informal resolution to this matter which would have effectively gagged me from publicly speaking about something which would negatively affect the safety and wellbeing of people in Threemilestone, Chacewater and Langarth.

“The decision to censure me after a complaint, not from a member of the public but from a senior officer at the council, has set a dangerous precedent. It will only serve to deter other councillors from asking serious questions about decisions taken by officers and to be able to challenge where they think Cornish taxpayers’ money is being misspent. No one will want to go through what I have over the last six months.

“I’ll carry on being the best councillor I can for the people in my division, who know what’s really been at stake here, and the wider community.

“I would ask the public a question I don’t think a senior officer of the council would ever have to consider: If someone living in a bus pulled up in front of their home to live and started acting in an anti-social manner, how would they want their local councillor to help? Or, more pertinently, what rights would they want their councillor to have to be able to help?”